


No Room For Loneliness

by ohmyallstars



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alcohol, Family, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-29
Updated: 2012-12-29
Packaged: 2017-11-22 20:38:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/614102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyallstars/pseuds/ohmyallstars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A muttered curse rang through the yard as Zayn tried to pick up the broken pieces of glass from the bottle he’d just dropped. Warm beer ran between the cracks in the pavement and when one of the sharp edges nipped his finger, he let the pieces drop back onto the ground. Suppressing a drunken laugh, he stumbled through the flower bed beneath his boyfriend’s bedroom window, and tapped on the glass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Room For Loneliness

A muttered curse rang through the yard as Zayn tried to pick up the broken pieces of glass from the bottle he’d just dropped. Warm beer ran between the cracks in the pavement and when one of the sharp edges nipped his finger, he let the pieces drop back onto the ground. Suppressing a drunken laugh, he stumbled through the flower bed beneath his boyfriend’s bedroom window, and tapped on the glass.

There was no response from inside, so the intoxicated boy tried calling out Louis’s name. When even that didn’t work, he walked around to the back door and let himself in with the key he knew was hidden under the door mat. As quietly as he could he slid into the house undetected. A small gust of wind ripped the door from his slack grasp, causing it to slam shut behind him. With an agitated tutting noise he turned and shushed the door.

‘You’ll wake them up!’ he giggled to himself quietly. His feet knew the way to Louis’s room by heart, so Zayn didn’t bother turning on any lights, although in retrospect it probably would have been a good idea to because he bumped into a fair few things in the hallway. The door to Louis’s room was open ajar so he gave it a nudge and tumbled inside, saying ‘awake, baby. I need talk t’you ‘bout shtuff.’

When he collapsed onto the floor, instead of the bed he was expecting to be there, he blinked several times and noticed for the first time that there was something very wrong with the room. The walls were bare, instead of layered with posters of indie bands and famous soccer players, and the keyboard that usually sat in the corner was gone. Louis’s books and clothes weren’t scattered on the floor and there wasn’t a bed or desk.

The room was empty.

‘Zaynie?’ a small voice asked from the doorway. In surprise, Zayn turned to see the youngest of Louis’s sisters, Daisy, standing in the doorway. She looked perfectly tiny, only eight years old, and her bright yellow pyjamas looked out of place in the empty room. ‘What are you doing In Louis’s room?’

‘Dais, where’s my – where’s Lou?’ he mumbled almost incoherently. Daisy didn’t reply immediately, instead she crossed the room and put her thin arms around Zayn’s neck. Without hesitating he hugged her back and placed a lazy kiss on the top of her head. ‘Sis, where’s boobear?’

‘Don’t you remember?’ she asked in a tiny voice. Daisy’s question told him he already knew that answer and he tried to focus his drunken mind enough to it. After a moment something clicked in place and he remembered everything from the previous months; the phone call in the middle of the night, the silent ride in the passenger seat to the hospital. The blood stained sheet draped over the body of his boyfriend, the distraught faces of Louis’s four younger sisters. He remembered the way Jay had clung to the sheet that covered the broken body of her only son and sobbed without restraint. He remembered the realisation that he’d never hear Louis’s voice again.

His head spun from a combination of the alcohol and the pain that swept through him, and he c couldn’t hold back the tears that flowed freely from his eyes. Little Daisy pulled away from him, and wiped his face with her hand before getting to her feet.

‘Mum, can Zayn sleep on the couch?’ she asked quietly. Turning slowly, so that he didn’t make his head spin, he was embarrassed to see Jay standing in the doorway. She looked exhausted and confused, but he knew that she’d understand why he was there. ‘Mum?’

‘Of course he can, honey. Hop back into bed and I’ll check on you in a minute.’ She promised. The young girl smiled happily and turned back to Zayn.

‘Sometime I forget,’ she admitted, ‘I have bad dreams, and run in here to tell him. He used to tell me that they weren’t real and he’d protect me. He’s not here anymore though, so I protect myself. But sometimes I forget and run to find him. It makes me sad, when I remember, but I know that he’d want me to smile so I do.’

‘Thanks.’ He mumbled, unable to think of any other way to thank her for what she’d told him. It didn’t begin to explain how grateful he was but he thought she had understood what he’d meant.

‘Alright Daisy, it’s time for bed.’ Jay reminded her, but not sternly. She gave her daughter a kiss on the head and nudged her down the hallway before turning back to Zayn. ‘Come on, love. You don’t want to stay in here.’

She helped him to his feet and supported him when he stumbled clumsily, guiding him out of the lonely room and into the living room. With a moan he collapsed onto the couch and she pulled his boots off for him before he retracted his legs into his chest and lay in a foetal position. Jay draped a blanket over his semi-conscious form and he smiled at her sleepily before frowning into the pillow.

For a long while nobody spoke, as Jay pottered around the room and tucked Zayn’s blankets in for him, just as she had with her own son when he’d been a child. It didn’t matter that Zayn wasn’t technically a part of the family; she treated him as if he was and did the same in return.

‘I miss him’ he mumbled as he buried his face further into his pillow. She didn’t reply for a moment and Zayn felt unconsciousness taking over, but he fought it so that he could hear her reply.

‘I miss him too, Zayn. Every single day.’


End file.
